To the Flip of a Coin
by EmeraldGrey22
Summary: In which some of our favorite characters have a bad experience with Iris Messages. Three-shot. Canon pairings. Chapter One: Annabeth, Nico.


**Hello! I'm back with the new story that I promised! :) I meant it to be a little light and fluffy but just all the feels...ugh I always end up writing something kind of emotional-y and depressing :o But anyway I hope you enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it. **

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**i. Annabeth**

Annabeth stared at the rusted golden coin she held in her palm that reflected the barest hints of sunlight into her eyes. It was blunted around the edges and had lost its gilded color. At least a few millennia old, Annabeth decided. She ran the pad of her thumb across the rough surface as she contemplated her decision. It shouldn't be this hard for her to decide whether she wanted to talk to her best friend or not. But then again, they hadn't talked since she had left him at the top of Camp Half-blood hill at the start of the summer and neither of them had made any effort to contact each other ever since.

It wasn't the first time Annabeth was staring at the coin either. A small pouch of drachmas sat perpetually at the top of her dresser and now and then she would pluck a coin only to stare at it penetratingly and put it back down. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to see his face and hear his jokes and laugh at him and call him a Seaweed Brain but she wondered whether she had already burned the bridge. She wondered whether she had managed to crumble four years of friendship in a single day. She flipped the drachma over and pretended that her heart didn't hurt at the memory.

_"Annabeth." he said. "What was the rest of the prophecy?"_

_She fixed her eyes on the woods in the distance and kept quiet, biting her lip to keep her chin from trembling. She wanted to spill her guts out, she wanted to let go of the suffocating itch inside her chest and she wanted to cry just so he would wrap an arm around her shoulder and offer her some kind of comfort. But she couldn't tell. Not him. Never him. _

_But he wouldn't give in. He started to recite the lines of the prophecy, explaining everything like she hadn't already figured it out, prompting her to complete his words. Her eye stung as he kept on reciting the words. No, he couldn't force her to tell but she didn't want to hear him say the words, anyway. She didn't want to hear him recite the unfinished prophecy and look up to her for the last piece of the puzzle. She didn't want to see his reproachful gaze and his imploring eyes. She shook her head as he continued. She just wanted him to stop. No, she_ needed _him to stop. _

_"Percy-" she started but he talked over her._

_"Destroy with a hero's final breath. That makes sense now. Daedalus died to destroy the Labyrinth. But what was the last—"_

_Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. The tears that were gathering in her eyes threatened to spill and she clenched her hands into fists. The urge to let it go was too strong. She had been bottling it up for so long, she was starting to feel the jagged cracks that were slowly spreading across the surface of her heart. Her voice was biting when she spoke. It was the only way she could mask the pain and guilt._

_"And lose a love to worse than death." she snapped through her tears. "That was the last line, Percy. Are you happy now?"_

_If she thought she felt bad before, it was nothing compared to what she felt when she saw his face. Comprehension dawned upon his features and his whole posture seemed to sag. The hurt she saw in his eyes hit her with the brute force of a truck and left her breathless. And then it turned to something else. Resignation. Suddenly, he wouldn't meet her eyes as if he had expected this all along, like he was stupid for not already figuring it out. She wanted to shout and scream at him. Tell him that it was his face that had flashed in front of her eyes when she heard the prophecy and not Luke's. _

_"Oh." He stared at his shoes. "_Luke_."_

The memory vanished as Annabeth flipped the drachma into the air and then caught it again with her sharp reflexes. She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She had had enough of this cowardliness. She was going to IM him right then and she was going to ask about his summer and then tell him about hers and then she'll ask to meet up before camp and maybe they'll have that not-date that didn't happen the last time.

She flipped the drachma into the air again, this time into the miniscule rainbow that was caught in front of her window, created by the odd angle of sunlight that was filtering into her room. The golden coin glinted once before it vanished into the air and Annabeth spoke, trying to contain her rapid heartbeat and keeping her voice steady.

"Iris accept my offering. Show me Percy Jackson."

The air in front of her shimmered and Annabeth and sucked in a determined breath. She was a daughter of the War Goddess _dammit_, and she wasn't going to let anyone mess with her nerves, especially not that Seaweed Brain. Slowly the air morphed and twisted into itself and transformed into a familiar view of the Jackson's living room. She smiled at the vision that greeted her eyes; she had always loved that little apartment that basically screamed _Jackson_. It was cozily decorated by Sally with colored rugs and a desiccated but still comfortable sofa and little picture frames adorning the walls. She could also detect little indications of Percy's inhabitation here and there, by the half-filled plate of chocolate chip cookies that sat on the kitchen counter or the array of video games strewn across the coffee table or the haphazard way the rug was always flipped over from the corner. She smiled slightly as she searched for Percy with her eyes.

Her smile promptly fell off her face when she spotted Percy, not a second later. He sat on the carpeted floor, leaning back against the couch, clearly still in his pajamas. Next to him, holding an overflowing bowl of popcorns, sat Rachel Elizabeth Dare, wearing her trademark paint splattered clothes. Both of their gazes were focused on the movie that running on the television, their eyes focused and their minds obviously engrossed in the scene that was playing out; they didn't notice her presence.

The world suddenly seemed a lot less bright. Annabeth felt a pang in her heart as she observed the scene before her eyes. She of course knew that Percy would hang out with Rachel after their quest, especially since Annabeth and Percy were practically ignoring each other. But seeing the scene laid out right in front of her was another thing altogether. Percy and Rachel looked like the epitome of casualness, like two perfectly normal teenagers enjoying a Saturday. They sat shoulder to shoulder, legs sprawled out in front of them, occasionally reaching out to the bowl of popcorn that Rachel was holding. There was something so laid-back about the scene that made Annabeth's heart clench.

She was suddenly reminded of their quest in the labyrinth where Rachel had been invited along for the latter half. She had felt something similar to this tightness in her chest then. It hadn't been the fact that Percy was spending time with Rachel that had thrown her off. In fact, Annabeth was pretty sure that if the two girls had met in a different circumstance they would have gotten along swimmingly. The thing that had bothered Annabeth was how easy Percy and Rachel had gotten along, how uncomplicated their relationship was, how they both could be so _normal _together.

Even right then, looking at the pair, her brain started to process little tidbits that it would have overlooked in another situation. The casual way their elbows touched, the relaxed slouch of their postures, the easygoing atmosphere surrounding the duo. The first thought that came to her mind made her cringe at herself. Things between her and Percy would never be like that. _She_ had never spent a careless Saturday with him just watching movies. Their relationship had always been tangled in a thick web of obstacles, prophecies and near death experience, threatened by one or another foe, just waiting to strike.

Percy commented at something about one of the characters and Rachel snorted loudly, not averting her eyes but throwing a handful of popcorn in his direction. He elbowed her in response and then proceeded to eat the popcorns right off of his clothes. She could see the small smile at the corner of Rachel's lips and the barest twinkle in Percy's eyes. She couldn't ignore the thick bubble of jealousy that was brewing in her chest, rising and expanding, overpowering the logical side of her brain. Looking at the scene, Annabeth felt small. Like all the times she had spent with Percy suddenly didn't account to anything at all.

She had always imagined that they had something, her and Percy–whatever stupidly complicated that something was. But now, looking at the duo, she felt oddly delusional. He looked so at ease, sitting there with Rachel, wearing the same look of simplicity he would get when he looked over his father's domain.

And besides, Annabeth thought, her throat closing up, Percy needed someone normal in his life. He needed this. These afternoons that came once in a while that offered him some kind of relaxation. He needed someone he could hang out with, someone that would help him forget about the weight of the world on his shoulders. He didn't need Annabeth, who would remind him of his responsibility every other day, who would tell him to keep his eyes open and not to slack off. He needed a girl that would make him laugh, that would watch movies and eat ice cream with him. Annabeth gulped down the lodge in her throat, her eyes stinging irritatingly. She had never thought that ten seconds of looking through an Iris Message could affect her in such a way.

She looked at him one last time, absorbing his disheveled appearance, his easy grin, his peaceful posture and wished that everything in her life wasn't so difficult. She blinked back her tears and slashed a hasty hand across the Iris Message, smattering the image to the wind. She turned around and spotted the little pouch of drachmas sitting atop her dresser. A mixture of emotions rose up inside her in a whirl of hurt, confusion, jealousy and anger and with a careless hand, she knocked the drachmas out of her sight, sure that she wouldn't actually be needing them anymore. The gilded coins scattered to the ground and she wouldn't pick them up for days.

Annabeth Chase hated Iris Messages.

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**ii. Nico**

Nico threw another small red ball in the direction of the giant three headed dog and watched, without satisfactions as it was tossed playfully from one head to another. Normally, this was an activity that Nico enjoyed really much –he had a thing for lonely and abandoned individuals like himself- but today his head was just not into it. The dejection of the Underworld had caught up to Nico, making him gloomy and despondent. Well, more than he usually was, anyway.

When Nico had successfully disposed of all the small rubber balls he had brought with him today, he headed down to the central part of the Underworld, mixing along with the hundreds of silvery, glassy-eyed souls. He looked down at the crowded Fields of Asphodel and suddenly remembered the day, a few weeks ago, when he had discovered his Roman sister- Hazel Levesque. Maybe that was a part of the reason of his despondency- he still hadn't gotten over the fact that Bianca had chosen rebirth and left him here. Just like that. No farewell, no goodbye. Frankly, Nico would have been happy with hastily scrawled _bye!_ on a post-it.

His thoughts forced his head into a greater degree of depression and he commanded himself to not to think about Bianca. It had almost been three years since her death and Nico thought it was about the time that he moved on. He waddled along the hordes of impartial souls and just when he thought that he couldn't get any more depressing, the Fates proved him wrong.

The air in front of him shimmered and for a moment he was startled, before the murky colors of the Underworld warped into themselves creating an image with much brighter and welcoming colors, right in front of his eyes. The Iris Message appeared in front of him and the frown-y face of Annabeth Chase looked down at him, her forehead wrinkled, violet shadows splaying underneath her intimidating eyes.

To say that Nico was surprised was an understatement. No one ever IM-ed him. They could of course, but Nico wasn't exactly known for his socializing skills. The few people he interacted with in Camp mostly let him do whatever he wished- disappear and reappear without infuriating and bothersome questions and left him to his own devices. No one checked up on Nico because he had made it pretty clear that he didn't need anyone checking up on him; which was why Nico immediately reached to the conclusion that something was wrong. And judging by Annabeth's worrisome expression, something was _terribly_ wrong.

"Hi Nico." Annabeth started out warily. Her eyes inspected his surroundings though the IM and she winced at his current locality before focusing her gaze entirely on his face. Nico noticed the tiredness that thickly laced her voice and wondered when was the last time her head had hit the pillow.

"Hi." he replied, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice but he could detect the questioning tone overshadowing the single syllable. He eyed her face cautiously wondering what she wanted. He greatly admired Annabeth as a demigod but since the Titan War, he had been avoiding her. Mostly, due to the raging war inside his chest that he was still trying to figure out.

"Umm…" she said. He couldn't see her hands but from the movement of her arms, he could easily guess that she was wringing her fingers together. That was a new surprise altogether. Annabeth was nervous? Worried? Scared? He could think of a whole array of emotions that could be associated with the action but none of which he would ever relate to Annabeth. She was quiet for a moment, figuring out what to say and then blurted out. "It's Percy."

Nico's heartbeat picked up. Was Percy in trouble? Was he injured? Was he dead? No, Nico would have been the first person to know if that happened. He was almost positive that he would have felt it.

"What about him?" Nico asked cautiously, controlling the tirade of questions that were threatening to slip out of his tongue. He tried to keep his expression neutral but he was pretty sure Annabeth could see through his nonchalant facade.

Annabeth looked conflicted- as if she didn't want to say the words she was going to speak next. Suddenly, the shadows beneath her eyes were much more prominent. Nico could see the weariness lining her face, the worry clouding her irises. "He's…" she paused. "Percy's missing."

Nico thought his ears had deceived him. "_What do you mean Percy's missing?_"

"_I mean he's missing._" Annabeth almost snapped, exasperation in her voice. "Gone. Vanished. I don't know. Nobody knows." She rubbed her fingers against her eyes. Nico thought he saw the barest quiver of her chin but he blinked and it was gone. "I saw him last Monday night and then…nothing"

Nico was having trouble absorbing the sudden situation. Monday night. Almost three days. Annabeth's words passed over and over through his head before his brain finally registered the fact. Percy was missing. _Percy Jackson was missing._

Annabeth continued when she didn't get a reply, ignoring Nico's baffled yet conflicted expression. She was twiddling her thumbs again and had averted her eyes to her lap. "Could you…" she started and then gulped before saying, "Nico…he's not dead, is he?"

The word _dead_ brought Nico back from his stunned stupor.

"No!" he almost screamed and Annabeth's shoulders fell limp in relief. "No. _No_. I would've known if that had happened." he stuttered. "I'm sure I would've known."

Annabeth gave him a weak smile that fell off her lips in a matter of seconds. "Thanks Nico."

Nico nodded but didn't say anything else. His mind was still buzzing and his chest felt constricted like he couldn't get enough air no matter how hard he breathed. Where was Percy? How could he suddenly disappear? Was he okay? Was he being trapped or tortured or…no. Nico couldn't think like that. Suddenly Nico could see his face clearly, all the time he had helped Nico, all those times he had given him a chance when no one would. Percy didn't deserve this, he thought angrily, his worry suddenly transforming into rage. Even the cruelest of the gods would agree that Percy had had enough bad luck to last him several centuries. Now just as things were starting to go right for him, he had went missing or was taken or… the possibilities were countless.

But his rage didn't explain the constant prick in his heart, the constricting feeling in his throat. The prick had been there before, every time Nico would see Percy in Camp, with friends, _with Annabeth_. It felt like it had suddenly amplified to a pain much greater in magnitude, like he was being impaled with a knife instead of a needle.

"You _are_ looking for him right?" Nico asked suddenly. "Did Chiron send a search party?"

Annabeth nodded. "Two search parties already went and came back." she said miserably. "And I asked Thalia. She and the hunters are doing everything they can." Her face softened as if she was remembering something sweet. "Artemis always did have a soft spot for him."

Nico nodded again, clenching his fists and thankful that Annabeth couldn't see the action. "Do you have any leads?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Nothing substantial." A dark look of rage crossed her face, her eyes turning a deeper shade of grey that leaned more towards the black side. She looked dangerous like she could gut a Cyclops without the blink of an eye. "But Hera's playing with me. I know she is. She sent me to a group of rouge demigods today who knew nothing. One of them even had amnesia." She laughed humorlessly.

"New demigods?" Nico asked, definitely intrigued by this new piece of information.

"Yeah." she answered. "Two boys, one girl. Piper Mclean, Leo Valdez and Jason…something."

Nico's ears perked up: _Jason?_ Suddenly, he remembered the last time he had went to Camp Jupiter to drop Hazel off. He could recall Reyna's troubled expression, Octavian's secret sneer, the quiet whispers that hushed throughout the Camp ground. _Jason is missing. Jason Grace is missing. _

Jason Grace was in Camp Halfblood? No it couldn't be. It must be some other Jason. But Jason and Percy both missing at the same time? This was too great a coincidence to actually be a coincidence. Nico felt a dark feeling seep through his bones, like he was standing at the edge of Tartarus, waiting for the monster to pull him in.

"That Jason guy." he said slowly and cautiously. "What does he look like?"

Annabeth looked skeptical, one of her eyebrows rising unconsciously above the other. Her gaze was calculating as she answered his question, like she could get a roadmap to his brain by staring into his eyes. "Blond, buff." she shrugged. "Ruggedly handsome?"

Nico's heart was thudding erratically in his chest. _Jason Grace was in Camp Halfblood_. Nico shivered, suddenly remembering the cold feeling he had experienced when he had stepped onto the Roman territory for the first time. This was wrong. This was completely wrong. Nico was having trouble thinking of the Roman praetor moving inside Camp Halfblood. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. A wave of cold seemed to wash over him; the Underworld seemed icier than before.

"Do you know anything about him?" Annabeth asked, precisely judging the expression on his face. He knew he probably looked like he had seen a ghost. In the figurative sense of course.

"No." Nico lied, easily. "I remembered someone else."

Annabeth nodded, although he could see the mistrust plastered upon her face. He wished he could tell her the truth; he was tired of people looking at him the way she was looking right now. But he knew that things were bigger than the two of them. Some kind of intricate and byzantine plan was brewing up in Olympus and he could feel it deep in his bones that it was larger than Jason Grace and it was larger than Percy Jackson.

But there was something about the look in Annabeth's face; the look that said that she was just _tired_. Tired of saving the world, tired of worrying, tired of all the games. Nico's throat was burning again, not because of the look on her face but because he knew that Percy would have hated seeing her like this. He had to say something. For Percy.

"We'll find him Annabeth." he said and the conviction in his voice managed to surprise himself. But he knew that they would find him, not right away, not before the gods wanted them to find him, but they would find him nonetheless. There were only a few things Nico believed in in this world and Percy Jackson was one of them. Percy was a fire that scorched too bright to just burn out. "I'll look for him. Try to find out what I can."

Nico knew that he probably wouldn't find Percy no matter how hard he looked but what was the harm in trying anyway? Annabeth looked a little appeased; the more eyes looking for her boyfriend the better. Her lips lifted in a small smile that was dull in comparison to the ones she used to give before. But it was a real smile nonetheless. "Thanks Nico."

He nodded and Annabeth offered him a small wave before slashing her hand through the Iris Message.

Nico stumbled through the hordes of soul before settling himself on a low outcrop of rocks. Suddenly, he felt numb all over as if he was incapable of feeling emotions. He closed his eyes tiredly and instead of black, blue greeted his eyes. The bright blue of a creamy birthday cake, the greenish blue of the sea, cheerful blue colored shirts. He opened his eyes, wanting to see the blue in front of him but now all he saw was _black._

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**The end was kind of off...but ehh...**

**PLEASE READ THIS NEXT LITTLE PARAGRAPH**

**I actually am not sure about this story. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to be am I'm still re-thinking my decision of putting it up. This is supposed to be a three-shot with two more chapter containing two characters each but I don't know...  
Would you guys please tell me if I should continue? I haven't written ahead yet so I don't know. Please tell me! I will only continue if people want me to because I have very little time nowadays!**

**Anyway next chapter is supposed to be about Jason and Piper and would probably be a bit longer than this c:**

**Oh and go check out my other PJO stories! I've written two others since HoH c:**

**Have a great day lovelies! **

**-EG c: c:**


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